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Jim shrugged. “I’ll give him a blade, put him on the field. He can show me how tough he is.”
“He’ll stab us in the back.”
“I’ll have people watching him. We found him once, we’ll find him again. He stabs someone, I’ll skin him alive. Piece by piece.” Jim smiled at Red. Most people saw Jim smile only once, just before he killed them. The smile had the desired effect: Red cringed and paled so light, I could see it even through the layer of dirt smudging his skin.
“Objections?” Jim asked me.
“Do what you will.”
IN THE YARD, TWO HUGE BUSES ROARED, THEIR ENGINESfueled by magic-infused water.
That’s the trouble with magic-fueled vehicles: they were slow, thirty-five, forty miles an hour max and they made enough noise to wake the dead and make them call the cops. I’d get to ride to the battle on a bus. The Universe had a mordant sense of humor.
I noticed a familiar slender figure. Myong. And next to her, Crest. He looked well: same dark eyes, same clothes, immaculate to the last crease. He was still a very handsome man, with auburn hair and warm eyes. I looked at him and didn’t care. The pang of embarrassment was gone. I was free.
“Curran let them go. Released her from all duties to the Pack. She’s excused from the fight.” Derek wrinkled his lip. “If it was me, I’d make her fight. And then, if she did well, I might let her go.”
Crest held the door of a narrow gray vehicle for Myong.
“There, they are off, the happy couple excused from revenge and saving the world. Doesn’t it bother you?”
I smiled. “Derek, in life you have to learn to let some things go.”
We circled the bus and a wave of vampiric magic hit me. Eight vampires sat perched like statues in front of a Jeep. Curran stood by the Jeep, having a rather animated discussion with the ninth vampire. The vampire saw me.
“Kate,” it said in Ghastek’s voice. “Your ability to remain alive never ceases to amaze me.”
“What are you doing here? As in what are you doing here, instead of being under lockdown in the Casino?”
“Quite elementary, my dear; I’ve come to get even. That, and the People would like to monitor the full potential of the vampires during a flare in an environment where they are free to inflict unrestricted damage. But mostly, I’m here to get even with the Shepherd. I find retribution to be a worthy cause.”
I looked at Curran’s face and suddenly I knew exactly who would escort Bran through the tunnel.
CHAPTER 25